Win7Pro gets updates then decides they are not needed

[Percival P. Cassidy]

Yesterday Windows Update (Win7Pro) informed me that two important
updates were available. I selected them, they downloaded and started to
install, then Windows reported that they were not needed/unnecessary/not
necessary (whatever the actual wording was). I didn't make a note of the
KB numbers. What on earth was going on?

Perce

 

[Andy Burns]

Yesterday Windows Update (Win7Pro) informed me that two important
updates were available. I selected them, they downloaded and started to
install, then Windows reported that they were not needed/unnecessary/not
necessary (whatever the actual wording was). I didn't make a note of the
KB numbers. What on earth was going on?

Yesterday the only patches I got were KB2570791 for some timezone
changes and the regular KB2310138 update for MSE.

 

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

Yesterday the only patches I got were KB2570791 for some timezone
changes and the regular KB2310138 update for MSE.

Me, too. I was surprised to get the KB2570791 patch on other than the
usual Patch Tuesday, though.

 

[Ed Cryer]

Yesterday Windows Update (Win7Pro) informed me that two important
updates were available. I selected them, they downloaded and started to
install, then Windows reported that they were not needed/unnecessary/not
necessary (whatever the actual wording was). I didn't make a note of the
KB numbers. What on earth was going on?

Perce

Do they appear in the Windows Update history?
Are they offered again for update?

Ed

 

[Joe Morris]

Me, too. I was surprised to get the KB2570791 patch on other than the
usual Patch Tuesday, though.

Patch Tuesday updates are restricted to security fixes; 2570791 is the
latest in the seemingly unending stream of timezone updates; this patch
updates the time zone info for Turkey, Egypt, Pacific SA, Morocco, Fiji, and
Samoa Standard Time.

I'm *strongly* in favor of keeping non-security updates out of the Patch
Tuesday release; security patches need to be installed very soon after they
are released; the Bad Guys will be reverse-engineering the fixes to identify
the vulnerability they fix, and some of those Bad Guys have shown themselves
to be able to quickly find those vulneabilities and develop an attack using
them. Having non-security updates come out at the same time muddles the
water, even if their documentation says "not a security update."

Joe Morris

 

[KCB]

Patch Tuesday updates are restricted to security fixes; 2570791 is the
latest in the seemingly unending stream of timezone updates; this patch
updates the time zone info for Turkey, Egypt, Pacific SA, Morocco, Fiji,
and Samoa Standard Time.

I'm *strongly* in favor of keeping non-security updates out of the Patch
Tuesday release; security patches need to be installed very soon after
they are released; the Bad Guys will be reverse-engineering the fixes to
identify the vulnerability they fix, and some of those Bad Guys have shown
themselves to be able to quickly find those vulneabilities and develop an
attack using them. Having non-security updates come out at the same time
muddles the water, even if their documentation says "not a security
update."

Joe Morris

If you're still getting your security fixes, why would it matter if there is
another patch included? Having the other patch included doesn't give the
"Bad Guys" any more of a head start than they already have. Are you
thinking that the extra 2 minutes for the non-security related patch is the
open window for your computer to join the botnet?

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

If you're still getting your security fixes, why would it matter if
there is another patch included? Having the other patch included
doesn't give the "Bad Guys" any more of a head start than they already
have. Are you thinking that the extra 2 minutes for the non-security
related patch is the open window for your computer to join the botnet?

I think it's more a matter of he's in favour of keeping the security
patches "pure" to protect their reputation, and to ensure that as many
as possible people install them; there are people who install as few
patches as possible, and I think he's keen that such people don't stop
installing altogether, as some of them might do if it got around that
other changes were being "hidden" - as the more paranoid might see it -
among the security ones. He wants security patches to be installed, for
the benefit of the recipients and the rest of us.